


Painted Houses

by optimus_pam



Series: Splashes of Color [4]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Day Four: Green, Everlark growing back together, F/M, Peeta's Paint Box, Post-Mockingjay, Pre-Epilogue, Prompts in Panem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 05:32:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2416700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/optimus_pam/pseuds/optimus_pam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day Four: Green.<br/>She and Haymitch never discussed it, but they both knew it was Peeta. It was a miraculous feat in and of itself that he painted entire houses in one night, let alone never being discovered. Slowly it continued, until all the houses in Victor's Village were a veritable rainbow of color.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painted Houses

She hadn't seen much of Peeta since his return from the Capitol. It had been weeks since she discovered him planting primroses along the side of her house. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious about his goings on.

She was sitting on Haymitch's porch, watching him trying to wrangle baby goslings and stealing surreptitious glances at Peeta's house, when the surly mentor spoke. "Walk the 20 paces and knock on his door, Sweetheart. You're not going to glean much from staring, no matter how hard you look."

"Have you seen him much? Since he got back?" She asked, not meeting his eyes, picking at lint on her worn sweater.

"A bit. He stops by with some bread, I check to see if he's out of his mind or not," he answered casually.

"And?" She prompted.

"And what?"

"Is he alright?" She pressed.

"None of us are alright, Sweetheart, but he's not howling at the moon or tilting at windmills if that's what you're asking."

Katniss huffed. "Some help you are."

"The Games are over. I'm not your mentor anymore," he called to her as she walked away.

"Saying it doesn't make it true," she chided him, not looking back.

"Fine, if I'm still your mentor then I  _advise_  you to go talk to him. Stalking is for prey, not people," he shouted across the Victor's Village, just as her door slammed shut.

A few more weeks passed without Katniss seeing hide nor hair of Peeta, but she did see traces of him.

One spring morning she woke to find his house painted a soft, sunset orange. She blinked at the bright color, stunned. For the house had been the same white color as all the rest in the Village — hers and Haymitch's included — just the day before.

The pattern continued. Every several days they would wake to find another house in the Village painted a new and different shade. The house at the end of the row was a lovely lilac; the house two over from Katniss was a warm tan; Haymitch woke to one day to find his house Robin's egg blue.

She and Haymitch never discussed it, but they both knew it was Peeta. It was a miraculous feat in and of itself that he painted entire houses in one night, let alone never being discovered.

Slowly it continued, until all the houses in Victor's Village were a veritable rainbow of color. All except for Katniss'. First one week went by and then another. Each day she rose secretly hoping to find her house some wondrous new shade. But each day she was disappointed, stuck with the bland, antiseptic white of the Capitol.

But eventually, on a warm spring night, just on the eve of dawn Katniss awoke at a sound outside her window. Despite two dead presidents, Katniss was always afraid of retribution from the Capitol, wary of unseen enemies.

She grabbed her bow from it's place in the closet and leaned outside her window, taking aim. She shrieked and her heart leapt to her throat as Peeta nearly fell from his perch on a ladder.

"Katniss! You scared me half to death!" He exclaimed.

"Scared you! I'm not the one scaling your walls in the middle of the night!" She admonished him.

"True," he said, offering her a smile so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that a long-forgotten but welcome warmth rushed through her.

Katniss took a moment to get her bearings, setting the bow down on the floor. She breathed deeply before leaning back out the window. The sun started to rise and she could see that Peeta was nearly done and covered in paint.

Green paint.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest. She thought, she hoped…but she couldn't be sure. Perhaps it was just coincidence…

"You painted my house…green."

"It's your favorite color, right?" He asked tentatively, nervously rubbing at the back of his neck.

Katniss couldn't speak so she nodded.

"I hope you don't mind," he said, moving his arm in sweeping motion, indicating the houses of the Village. "It's been…somewhat therapeutic for me."

"All that white reminded of the Capitol," he added. "Of hospitals and prison cells," he said with a shudder.

"No! I like it," she assured him with a small smile. "I…uh…thank you, Peeta. For remembering."

"I may not remember everything about my life from before the…well, before. But I remember you Katniss Everdeen. I remember you."

Five, ten, fifteen years later Katniss would once again wake to find Peeta painting walls of her house, but this time instead of green, it was the soft, sunset walls of their first child's nursery.


End file.
